🇳🇮 Republic of Nicaragua
Visiting: Risky
The risks in Nicaragua are real. Nothing ranks highly here: there is some exposure to conflict, at 64th, and LGBT rights are limited, placed 78th. Its weak spot is freedom, which is tightly restricted, placed 160th. Road deaths are moderate, ranking 98th, violent crime sits mid-range, at 117th, and women's safety is poor, placed 154th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Nicaragua: 5.5
Ranked 64th in the world for the highest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Five and a half killings per 100,000 people a year is a touch under the world average of 5.8, which is where the risky tier begins.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. The rate sits just below the world average, and the count is the UN's — the government announces a rate with no data behind it.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Nicaragua: 13.6
Ranked 83rd in the world for the deadliest roads.
Why this rank?
Nearly fourteen deaths per 100,000 people a year is just below the world average of fifteen.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable in a car. Below the world average, and a third of the deaths are people on foot and a quarter motorcyclists.
Conflict
Conflict deaths inside the country in the last twelve months, as recorded by the Uppsala conflict database, civilians killed on purpose, and any UN sanctions or court order over a war. The worst of those sets the colour. Lower is better.
Nicaragua: 1.07
Ranked 64th least conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
Nothing in twenty-five years. The last conflict death the Uppsala conflict database records in Nicaragua was in April 1990.
Is it safe to visit?
Safe. Nothing armed anywhere in the country.
Freedom
Six freedoms rated 0–4 by Freedom House — protest, speech, press, religion, movement and due process. The weakest rating sets the colour, and the total places the country inside it — higher is better.
Nicaragua: 2.10
Ranked 21st least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Nicaragua due process is rated 0, meaning absent, so the courts offer no protection if anything goes wrong. Total 2 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
Courts offer no protection. The regime has shut over sixty media outlets, stripped journalists of citizenship, banned religious processions and revoked thousands of NGOs, and constitutional changes in 2025 put every branch under the presidency.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Nicaragua: 4.4
Ranked 78th most equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Same-sex acts have been legal since 2008, with a hate-crime provision but no recognition. The law index sits at 48 and public opinion at 40.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable, with discretion. The government's crushing of civil society closed the advocacy space along with everything else.
Women's Safety
Women's safety — feeling safe out at night, political violence against women, a fair hearing in court, and how normal violence at home is, with the night figure setting a floor on the colour — higher is better.
Nicaragua: 6.00
Ranked 27th least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Violence at home is low and attacks on women are few. The courts are rated the worst anywhere for women, which is nearly the whole loss.
Is it safe to visit?
A woman travelling alone should take care in Nicaragua.